Dear Pediatric Community,

Inova Children’s has been working diligently for the past several weeks in preparation for the impending approval by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) approved the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination for children ages 5-11. These efforts have been a collaboration with state and local health departments, school system leadership and most importantly our state AAP leadership and pediatric partners within the community.

We know that in this region most parents intend to vaccinate their children—most as soon as they are able to do so—and almost every parent prefers to get their child vaccinated with their pediatrician or family doctor.

As part of broad, community-wide efforts to support the pediatric vaccination effort, Inova is hosting a series of child-friendly vaccine clinics at Inova Center for Personalized Health on weekends beginning November 6th by appointment only. Appointments are contingent upon vaccine availability.

These clinics will only offer the specific reconstitution of the vaccine for 5- to 11-year-old children; vaccine for ages 12 and up will not be available at these clinics.

We expect high demand in the first weeks of vaccine availability. In addition to Inova Children’s Vaccination Clinic at ICPH, there will be many options for children to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including Community Vaccination Centers (CVCs), retail pharmacies, pop-up locations as a collaboration between the school systems and health departments, and of course pediatrician and family practice offices.

Please visit www.inova.org/vaccine for more details on how to make an appointment at the Inova Children’s Vaccination Clinic and for information on all the vaccination resources available in our community.

Finally, in addition to preparing for Inova-based vaccine efforts we have prepared a series of educational videos and print content that can be utilized within schools, private practices, by the health departments and any other organization interested in educating on why vaccination is critical to the health of our children and how to best prepare a child for the vaccine. Learn More.

Thank you for all of your combined efforts to help our children.

Our physicians are ​recommending the COVID vaccine for our age-appropriate patients, but ultimately it is entirely up the parents/family if they would like to proceed with the COVID vaccine. Our physicians believe the benefits of the vaccine clearly outweigh the risks of any possible side effects from the vaccine. If you have specific questions or concerns regarding the vaccine, you should contact your pediatrician or family physician. If the pediatrician/family physician has any specific concerns, they can reach out to us directly.

Our echocardiography lab is available for standard transthoracic and fetal echocardiograms and is certified by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC), demonstrating our ongoing commitment to providing quality patient care. Other services include exercise stress testing, electrocardiograms, 24-hour Holter monitoring, event recordings and transesophageal echocardiography. Our team routinely assesses athletes with possible heart problems through our sports preparticipation screening evaluations.

All of our physicians care for infants, children and young adults with cardiovascular disease,as well as adults with congenital heart disease. Some of their particular interests include the following:

• Dr. Sherif Tawfik specializes in diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization for babies, children, and adults with congenital heart disease.
• Dr. Sharon Karr and Dr. Sarah Chambers specialize in the evaluation and management of the fetal heart during pregnancy.

Pediatric Cardiology Associates is accredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) for transthoracic and fetal echocardiograms, demonstrating that we meet the highest standards in these areas. To become accredited, a facility must complete a detailed self-evaluation on all aspects of facility operation and submit confidential case studies to the IAC’s Board of Directors for review.

Our patients and referring providers can take comfort in knowing that:

• we have demonstrated our commitment to providing quality testing for the diagnosis of heart disorders and disease.
• we have been carefully evaluated on all operational aspects considered relevant by medical experts in the field of echocardiography.

We are proud of this designation and appreciate your trust in us.